The following review is the opinion of the review's author [Krya]
and in no way represents the opinions of this website or its staff.

Hello,I have played many MUDs over the years and decided to give Batmud atry. To start, their java based client is AMAZING. All the informationis in the right place, the overworld map makes navigation a breeze andIt's generally very intuitive and delightful. I wish every MUD on theinternet had one of these babies tuned up for it!

The newbie channel has been, by and large, very helpful with my,numerous, questions. Other channels are different, however, 'bat',the primary channel is largely a haven for the 'good ole boys', andpeople forming groups will usually have little time for a low levelmember trying to squeeze in. This is not to say that I didn't gethelp! A few members, especially Morag, took me aside to group, andthose were fantastic times. Just don't expect it consistently, therearen't Morags to go around. Most seem to prefer to party with thosewho already have great levels and very high trained skills/spells.

The skill/spell system is a touch unforgiving. You really need tohave things basically mastered to use them with any amount ofefficiency, and saving the xp to do that is no mild challenge. Forexample: It took 516 thousand xp to get 'Attack' to 100%. Attack isone of THE most basic skills that determines your basic accuracy withmelee weapons. Getting this to 100%, which is not as high as it cango, is considered just part 1 of even starting to be a front rowperson. Don't think that 100% means it always works, either. With100% attack, I still miss about 30% of the time against easy/very easymobs. Similarly, with 63% fire building, I often have to try two tofive times to actually get a fire going.

Group combat is smooth and simple, especially with the client. Youcan see your allies' health and stamina and magic points swiftly andreact to the adapting situation as needed. I have no complaints aboutthe party system. Well done.

Crafting seems to be a large part of the game, but as a ranger, I wasnot able to see too much of this. I did discover that my 'makebandage' skill required cotton, which requires 30 plant lore to findand pick, but you can only pick cotton in the autumn. A rude surpriseto discover AFTER investing the XP to make it possible. D'oh.

I could also turn corpses into various bits of armor, but I couldn'ttell how good they were with any amount of accuracy, so most wassimply turned into a bit of extra income at the shop in town.

A merchant will have to give a better report on player crafting.Player cities seem very flexible. I didn't have (even a dream ofobtaining) enough money to build one, but I saw many and entered afew. They were just as serviceable as main cities, but built at thewhim of their owners. Very nice. +points.

Overall I rate Batmud as a challenging game with a lot of detail andoptions. If you're willing to surmount the high cliff of entry, youmay find a game you can sink a lot of time into.